Sunflower Health Plan reposted this
Vice President of Population Health | Doctor of Nursing Practice
I hesitated to post this here, but since so many of my contacts are healthcare professionals I felt it was an important story to tell. A few weeks ago, I delivered a sweet baby boy at 32 weeks gestation. My maternity leave wasn’t supposed to start for another 8 weeks and there was still so much to do. This wasn’t a typical early delivery, though. In the weeks prior to my delivery, I developed acute cardiomyopathy, which essentially prohibited my heart from being able to efficiently pump blood throughout my body. I had a 20lb+ weight gain within 5 days due to the fluid retention and my cardiac ejection fraction dropped to <45%. My ECG exposed several long pauses and many ectopic beats. I say all of this because I went to the ER 3 times the week before I delivered and was told each time that my blood pressure and labs looked good and this was all normal pregnancy related. Everyone was most concerned about preeclampsia, which I never developed. After the second ER visit I began tracking my weight, intake, output, BP etc… in spreadsheet form because I was intuitively confident that what I was experiencing was cardiac related and potentially very damaging. This was the very best thing I could have done. As a cardiac nurse, I recognized the signs and symptoms of heart failure and basically demanded certain tests the last time I went to the hospital (the spreadsheet also helped!) This resulted in an urgent cardiac consult, ECG, CT, and echo, all of which confirmed that I was in a very emergent and dangerous situation. From there, baby Reece was delivered via cesarean and I was able to begin the treatment necessary. I’m now following with a cardiologist, the heart failure clinic, and am wearing a heart monitor. My OB team was excellent and this is not to place blame on anyone for not recognizing what was happening with me. Rather to hopefully empower everyone to know their bodies, ask questions, and not be afraid to be a total pain to your healthcare team. I’m so grateful to all of the nurses, physicians, and experts who have cared for me and this sweet little nugget over the past 3 weeks. He’s in the good hands of the NICU team for another week or so. Most patients don’t have the background or knowledge to identify what’s happening to them, but I believe that as healthcare professionals we owe patients the benefit of exploring the rare presentations or random complaints as potential problems, despite the cost or inconvenience it may create. I’m very thankful that my care team entertained my complaints, though a little later than preferred, and we have the ending we do. Pictured, my sweet boy and trusty heart monitor. ❤️